Cat Scratch

Veteran stand-up comedian Bobcat Goldthwait may have gigged at just about every Los Angeles comedy dive, but one joint you can bet he won't be hanging around these days is the Twisted Balloon, the mythological respite for washed-up clowns in his 1992 film Shakes the Clown.

"It would be hypocritical of me to be too outraged about my life," he says in an early-morning telephone interview from his home in Los Angeles. "I haven't had to get a day job, so I'm pretty lucky."

The almost normal voice he speaks in this morning could be attributed to the fact that at 7:00 the hyper-spastic persona -- the one that sounds like a neurotic speed freak who's been inhaling gasoline -- hasn't quite been riled. But he explains his mellow tone as the effects of an unusually busy week. He's doing the rounds promoting his new film, Windy City Heat, which premiered on Comedy Central on Sunday, October 12, as well as plugging his new CD I Don't Mean To Insult You, But You Look Like Bobcat Goldthwait. Thrown into the mix is a week-long stint guest-hosting the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live.

And to make things even more sobering, he's been awakened this morning by the news that his new governor-elect is muscle-headed movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger. Goldthwait scrambles in his signature whine for comedic fodder, but it's early. The best and most cohesive thing he can say about the scenario creaks out of his throat like a halfhearted love song.

"I'm embarrassed for the state," he utters. "I think he got elected because he molested so many women people thought he was a Democrat. You know, they get laid more."

He brings his particular brand of stand-up to Miami this weekend with a headlining gig at the Miami Improv (3390 Mary St., Coconut Grove). If it's based on the material on his CD, Bobcat mixes the personal with the political in screeds centering on aging scrotums, junky sperm donors, Star Wars nerds, and the war in Iraq.

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